Talk Title:“For the sake of that liberty of selling”: Market Culture and Caste Struggle in Early Modern Bengal
March 19, 2026, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CT
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Presentation Description:
Was there a politics of commerce within Bengali society in the eighteenth century? And why does it matter? Through a discussion of market culture in early modern Bengal, this talk broaches larger questions about the origins and character of the second British Empire, its impact on Indian society, and the location of India within a global history of liberal modernity. It shall argue that the relationship between commerce and politics has been too narrowly defined in extant literature. A one-sided focus on determining the impact of the early colonial state, coupled with an uncritical acceptance of Namierite stories about the origins of the British empire, has led historians to downplay ideological conflicts within the English East India Company (EIC) and British society. Moreover, the role of caste struggle and differential access to markets as constitutive factors in the politics and ideology of commerce within Bengali society has received scant attention. The lecture will argue, therefore, that to fully grasp the stakes and implications of illiberal colonialism in India, we need to begin a long-overdue conversation between British imperial history and the social history of India.
About the Speaker
Anirban Karak is a heterodox economist and a historian of early modern South Asia. He earned his PhD from New York University and he is currently serving as a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division at The University of Chicago. Anirban’s work has appeared in various academic journals and public fora in both English and Bangla, including The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Modern Asian Studies, Critical Historical Studies, Development and Change, The Daily Star, and Nirantar. He is currently working on his first monograph titled Subaltern Aspirations: Caste Struggle, Commercialization, and State Formation in Bengal, 1538-1833, which shows how subaltern actors articulated new critiques of caste during a period of intense social, cultural, and political transformation.